LGP Under the Basket?

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by fiasco

What about for NCAA?

I keep hearing commentators (I know, I know ) comment on how there was no foul called because the defender was underneath the basket.

There is a school of thought among some officials (and assignors?) that a defender directly under the basket cannot "play defense", and they are only there to draw the charge, therefore the officials will not penalize the offense for the contact. This was even spelled out in the NCAA-W rules, where if the defender was under the basket, and the offense was driving down the lane ("north-south"), then it was either a no-call on contact, or the defender was responsible for the contact, even if they were stationary. However, that same defender, in that same spot, could draw a charge if the drive intiated along the endline ("east-west"). The reason was given as above; on a north-south drive the offense almost always shoots, so the defender is just there to draw a foul. But on an "east-west" drive, the offense may also pass, so the defender is assumed to be playing defense against the pass as well as being in the path of the offense.

All this changed last season, and the rule in NCAA-W was replaced with language to the effect of "LGP can occur anywhere on the floor". So that defender under the basket can now draw a charge, no matter where they are standing and no matter where the offense started their path. I like this philosophy better, in that it takes away a level of judgement (was the defender far enough under the basket so that LGP doesn't matter?), and it takes away that possible "free shot" an offensive player might have on a defender who is occupying a legal spot on the floor.